How to Enjoy Holiday Treats and Not Gain Weight
Whether it’s a second helping of Grandma’s famous pecan pie or one too many pieces of leftover Halloween candy, the holiday season can cause even the most disciplined among us to lose sight of our health and fitness goals. Fortunately, the next couple months don’t have to be a constant battle with the scale. Here are a few tips for keeping your health and fitness on track and ensuring your pants still fit by the time Jan. 2 rolls around.
It can be tempting to eat less during the day when you know you’ll be getting some scrumptious holiday food later that evening, but arriving hungry to an event could lead to overeating. Instead, continue having regular meals and eat about the same amount of food during the event that you normally would at home. It may be challenging if many different foods are available, but limiting yourself to one plate with small portions will allow you to get a taste of everything while avoiding overdoing it.
You can also avoid overeating by munching on a plate of vegetables or salad as an appetizer. Vegetables are low in calories, and filling up on them at the beginning of a meal will keep you from overindulging on higher-calorie options later on. Also, using smaller plates and bowls will help keep your portion sizes in check. While you’re eating, take time to chat with family and friends and fully enjoy your food. It takes about 20 minutes for our stomachs to realize we’re full, so wait at least 20 minutes after your first plate before deciding if you want seconds.
If you know the desserts will be calling your name, decide ahead of time to have only one dessert. Telling your plan to a friend is also helpful; they can remind you of it when they see you inching closer and closer to the pile of chocolate-chip cookies. If salty snacks are your Achilles’ heel, decide ahead of time to avoid any chips or crackers. These snacks are available throughout the year, and there’s no reason to waste calories on them when there are bacon-wrapped scallops to be eaten.
Alcoholic beverages, such as spiked apple cider, are a prominent feature of many fall celebrations. Unfortunately, drinks can provide a lot of unnecessary empty calories. With some cocktails hiding as many as 740 calories per drink, it’s best to stick to the recommendations of one drink for women and two for men. Watch out for craft beer as well, since some can have higher alcohol and calorie content than you may realize.
One of the biggest obstacles to maintaining your health this time of year is the interruption to your regular workout routine. Try to plan social events and holiday preparations around your workouts, and don’t be afraid to leave the party early if it means you’ll be able to hit the gym in the morning. If you do miss a workout, don’t let it throw you off track. Get right back into your routine, and it will be like you never missed a beat.
Last, an often-overlooked component of keeping your health on track is sleep. Whether you’re used to 6 hours or 10 hours each night, it’s important to not let the stress or bustle of the holidays interfere with your rest. Fatigue can make it much more challenging to feel energized for a workout or resist tempting holiday treats.
What you need to know about flu shots
It’s Time for Flu Shots, and Here’s What You Need to Know
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Flu season is here, and now is the best time to get your flu shot if you haven’t already. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting your flu shot during the fall months because the flu is seen between October and May, even though most cases occur between December and February. It takes about two weeks for the flu vaccine to give you protection.
To help you and your family prepare for flu season, I’ve addressed some common questions about the flu that I am hearing from my patients.
What is the flu?
The flu, also known as influenza, is an acute respiratory illness caused by influenza A or B viruses. These are found worldwide and are spread through sneezing and coughing. Typically, it takes one to four days from the time of exposure to the viruses to the onset of illness.
Signs and symptoms include:
- Fever (temperature higher than 100 F)
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Weakness
Usually, flu symptoms come on abruptly. By comparison, with a bad cold you can often feel the symptoms coming on before you start feeling really lousy.
How does the flu vaccine work?
The flu vaccine introduces inactivated strains of the flu virus, which prompts your body to make antibodies to fight it. This means that when you are exposed to the live flu virus, your immune system recognizes it as an invader and goes to work on eliminating it from your body. Unlike previous years, only injectable flu vaccines will be used this year.
Who should get the flu vaccine?
YOU! Everyone older than 6 months of age should get the flu shot, especially those who have chronic illnesses like asthma, COPD, diabetes, heart disease or weakened immune systems.
Some people, however, should not get the flu vaccine. If you have any severe allergies to any part of the vaccine or have a history of Guillain-Barré syndrome, speak with your primary care provider before getting the shot.
Can I catch the flu from the flu vaccine?
Patients often tell me that they are hesitant to get the shot because they heard you can get the flu from the flu shot. The shot does not contain any live flu virus so it cannot cause the flu.
Some people do get a sore arm or redness where they got the shot. Sometimes, low-grade fever, headache or muscle aches can occur for a day or two.
What else can I do to prevent illness during the flu season?
Even if you’re healthy and haven’t had the flu, it is still good to take preventive measures. The flu is a serious disease and can lead to pneumonia and blood infections, and it can cause diarrhea and seizures in children. While the flu shot is the best form of protection against the flu, also be sure to wash your hands often, stay away from those who are sick, get plenty of rest, eat a well-balanced, healthy diet and get 150 minutes of moderate physical activity in each week.
Flu vaccines are available now. I recommend taking a few minutes to get this protective vaccine and improve your chances of staying healthy during this flu season.
New Recommendations for Kids’ Screen Time
Dr. Alexander Hamling from Pacific Medical Centers’ Canyon Park clinic, interviews with Q13 on screen time and the impact on children. Dr. Hamling practices pediatric medicine and is particularly interested in travel medicine, women’s health, sports medicine, pediatrics, and chronic diseases.
Hope for Diabetes Patients: Dr. Estelle Lin on Preventing and Reversing the Disease
Want to improve your health? Turn off the television while you eat and savor every bite.
This simple suggestion is just one of the ways Dr. Estelle Lin says people can change their lifestyles to prevent or combat diabetes. She practices Internal Medicine and works with diabetic patients at Pacific Medical Centers to ease and reverse the impacts of the disease so that they can live the lives they want.
“I have a lot of patients who have impressed me because they’ve taken control of their lives,” says Dr. Lin. “It inspires me when they come back and tell me they feel so much better, that they have so much energy and when they eat they don’t feel tired. Losing weight is often a focus for diabetics, but my top goal is that my patients feel empowered.”
Pre-diabetes can be asymptomatic, which makes it difficult for people to realize that they have it. Dr. Lin recommends that anyone with risk factors—like a history of the disease in their family—be screened regularly. In the later stages of diabetes, symptoms can include insatiable thirst followed by frequent urination and chronic fatigue.
Patients diagnosed with pre-diabetes can absolutely make changes so it doesn’t progress. She explains, “Exercise is important. The recommendation is 150 minutes of vigorous exercise a week, which works out to 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise.”
More importantly, learn about what’s in your food, especially when it comes to carbohydrates. “Most people think of diabetes as limiting sweets, but diabetes is really a dysregulation of how one’s body responds to insulin and glucose, both of which can be found in carbohydrates” says Dr. Lin. “There are carbs in every food. That daily beer, wine or soda adds up. All have a high carb content.” Hidden carbs also lurk in foods like rice, bread and pasta as well as sauces like ketchup, soy sauce and, sadly, sriracha. “Be aware of your total carb intake and don’t be excessive,” says Lin. “We need carbs, but it’s all about portion control.”
Getting a diagnosis of diabetes can be daunting, but Lin tells patients to not give up hope. “There’s some fear and denial and feelings of helplessness,” she says. “Many people have seen diabetics with insulin injections and needles. I reassure them that not everyone needs insulin and a lot of them can control it with diet and exercise. It’s important to overcome that fear and know what the facts are. They may not have this complication in 10 or 20 years.”
Having a strong support network of family and friends is key—a network that is also willing to make lifestyle changes. “If someone has diabetes, everyone who eats with that person needs to improve their diet,” says Dr. Lin. “If you have a diabetic in your family or community, they need the support. Go on a walk or a hike with them. These are small things that improve the life of the whole community, not just the diabetic’s.”
The most important factor? Participate in your own healing. “It’s a partnership,” says Dr. Lin. “My colleagues and I are invested in helping the patient, but we need the patient to be interested, committed and motivated. This disease can be completely controlled or even reversed, but it’s not about just taking a medication. You have to be an active participant. Those patients have the greatest success.”
Concussion and Halloween Safety
Q13 interviews Dr. Alexander Hamling about Concussion and Halloween Safety.
Are you ready for cold and flu season?
The excitement of the start of the school year, football season and fall activities can be quickly dampened by a cold or flu. Every parent dreads their child getting sick; it means missing work and school and, more drastically, requiring a visit to the doctor. Worst of all, it may mean that your whole family winds up getting sick. Luckily, I have some prevention tips to help keep you and your children healthy this cold and flu season.
Cold vs. Flu
First, a little refresher. Colds and flu are caused by viruses, not bacteria. There are hundreds of different viruses that cause colds; flu is caused by the influenza virus. Antibiotics won’t work to treat colds or flu because antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses.
Viruses are easily spread between people who spend significant time in close contact such as those in schools, daycares and offices. They’re typically spread by contact with an infected surface such as a doorknob or drinking fountain handle or person-to-person by direct contact. Most viruses are not airborne.
It is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between a cold and the flu. Both can cause a range of symptoms, including fever, runny nose, sore throat, cough and fatigue. In general, however, flu tends to hit harder, have higher fever and include body aches and nausea.
Prevention
While this all may sound like bad news, you can do a lot of things to help prevent you and your family from catching a cold or flu this season.
- Hand washing: Although you’ve heard it many times before, it bears repeating: good handwashing is the number one way to protect yourself from getting sick. Scrub for at least 20 seconds to stop those nasty germs from spreading.
- Flu vaccine: The flu vaccine adds a layer of protection. Everyone over the age of 6 months should get a flu shot. While it won’t keep you from getting a common cold, it will help protect you from the flu. What’s new this year is that nasal sprays are not recommended because they have been determined to not be effective enough to fight this year’s flu strain.
- Avoid people who are sick: This helps to prevent the spread of germs. If your child is sick, they should stay home from school. Encourage them to cough or sneeze into a tissue or into the crook of their elbow instead of their bare hands.
- Sleep: Your body needs good sleep for a healthy immune system. Toddlers/preschoolers should get 11-13 hours a night, young school-age kids need 10-12 hours, “tweens” 9-10 hours and teens 8-9 hours. And don’t neglect yourself! Try to clock in 7-8 hours every night.
- Eat well: One of the easiest ways to keep you and your children healthy is to maintain a well-balanced diet of healthy protein, some carbs, limited fat and sugar, and plenty of fruits and vegetables. A proper diet will help rebuild cells and give you energy and essential vitamins needed for a strong immune system.
Treating a Cold or Flu
So, you’ve followed this to a T—and someone still gets sick. At this point, all you can do is help manage symptoms and support the immune system in doing its job. Despite our best efforts, we’ll all catch a virus at some point, kids more often than adults: they average a whopping 6-8 colds a year.
Aches and fevers in older infants and children can be treated at home with acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil). Be sure to check the label for the proper dosing. If a fever is greater than 100 degrees and lasts longer than a few days or if other symptoms are severe, you should make an appointment to see your child’s doctor.
Keep your child home from school until the fever has subsided. A mild cough and/or sniffles may persist for several days, but it is okay to go back to school as long as they’re generally feeling better.
To recap, ensure you and your family wash their hands, get their flu shot, avoid others who are sick, eat well and get plenty of rest. If you follow these simple tips, you can prevent or minimize family members from getting sick this cold and flu season.
Tips on Staying Healthy During Flu Season
When the Washington State House of Representatives passed a bill that guaranteed sick leave to employees at companies with more than four employees, Dr. Ari Gilmore was thrilled.
“As doctors, we have a problem with people’s great work ethic, especially if they’re actively coughing,” he says. Dr. Gilmore offers several tips on how to stay healthy during flu season and what to do if you’ve come down with a cold.
Regular hand washing is critical, especially after being in a public place because germs can live on surfaces for a long time. “Avoid touching your face or rubbing your eyes,” he says.
Exercise can also help. “There has been some evidence that regular exercise keeps the immune system up,” says Gilmore. “Also, regular exposure to sauna-type temperatures makes a difference. The elevated body temperature may decrease the activity of a virus. A couple of studies have shown it to impact mild to moderate cold symptoms. So a good day at the gym with a sauna afterward might be good preventive medicine.”
A flu shot is the best bet, especially for people who work in jobs that demand high-volume contact with the public. “Making sure you get your flu shot is probably the most important preventive step,” Gilmore explains.
When to Visit Your Doctor
If you’ve contracted a cold, the best thing to do is stay home—including from your health clinic—at least for the first three days. “If you don’t have a fever, I recommend staying home for the first two or three days. A top mistake is to visit your doctor right away and infect others,” says Gilmore. “Often, we have people coming in on day two. At that point, we don’t have a whole lot of treatment to offer, and you’re just going to spread it around. If it’s been over three days, come in, and we’ll listen to the lung and make sure it hasn’t turned into pneumonia.”
On the flip side, waiting too long to see a doctor can also be problematic. “We’ve had people who’ve had a fever for five or seven days, and by the time they come in, they’re quite ill,” says Gilmore. “For most people, a temperature is going to be resolved in three days. If it’s not, have it checked out.”
The exceptions are those who are at higher risk, including anyone over 65, children under age four with a fever over 101 degrees, or those dealing with other illnesses. “For those particular populations, there are effective treatments like Tamiflu,” says Gilmore. “It’s worth talking to your doctor about.”
Back-to-School Concerns Around the Flu, Vaccines, and Anxiety
Dr. Ari Gilmore, from Pacific Medical Centers’ Beacon Hill clinic, interviews with Q13 on back-to-school concerns around the flu, vaccines, and anxiety. Dr. Gilmore practices family medicine and is particularly interested in travel medicine, women’s health, sports medicine, pediatrics, and chronic diseases.
Kids, e-cigarettes and vapes
Education, Prevention and Helping Them Quit
Parents, did you feel like you could breathe a little easier on May 5? There’s a reason. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deemed electronic cigarettes as being under its authority. More than 15 percent of high school students now report e-cigarette use.
The FDA protects public health by regulating and supervising many items such as food safety, medications, cosmetics, and tobacco products. The FDA has regulated cigarettes, tobacco and smokeless tobacco for quite some time. On May 5, it pulled a few more items under its control: e-cigarettes, vape pens, cigars, pipe tobacco, hookah tobacco and a few other products.
Here’s what you should know:
No More Easy Access
Before May 5, there was no federal law prohibiting retailers from selling e-cigarettes, hookah tobacco or cigars to people under the age 18. Now customers must be 18 or older, and show ID. And no more free samples.
Stop Misleading Claims
Now the FDA can prevent misleading claims by tobacco product manufacturers and evaluate the ingredients of tobacco products (including e-cigarettes).
So Are E-Cigarettes “Healthier”?
A staggering number of people use e-cigarettes and believe it’s a “healthier option.” Not so fast! Battery-operated e-cigarettes heat a liquid and deliver vapor for inhaling. So it’s true, they don’t fill the lungs with harmful smoke and also don’t contain the thousands of other cancer-causing chemicals found in regular cigarettes, but e-cigarettes contain nicotine. Nicotine is absorbed through the lungs and affects the brain, heart and nervous system. Besides being an addictive drug, nicotine is also toxic in high doses. It was once even used as an insecticide. Nicotine use can lead to heart disease, blood clots and more. After the initial effects of nicotine wear off, the user might feel tired, depressed and ornery.
Helping Kids Steer Clear
Don’t think your child is at risk? Over the past five years, use of e-cigarettes among high school students rose more than 900 percent. And the number of calls to poison centers involving e-cigarette rose from one per month in 2010 to 215 per month in 2014—with more than half of the calls involving children under age 5. So talk with your children about e-cigarettes, nicotine and future health issues. You can also focus on the immediate downsides, like less money to spend on other pursuits. It can be very effective to open a communication channel between your children and their physician.
Kid Already Addicted?
If your teenager is using nicotine, help him or her pick a quit date. Then use these tips to start lowering use:
• Set a modest goal of using one less e-cigarette each day for a week. Encourage alternative distractions such as exercise or activities that involve the hands (like art, music or knitting) to distract your child.
• To counter cravings, encourage your teen to think “wait” rather than “no.” Joining an online or in-person support group can help, too.
• Kids are quick to observe any contradiction between what their parents say and what they do. So if a parent smokes (or vapes), quitting is the first step to successfully stopping a child from doing the same.
Take note of your skin spots
As Seattleites take to Matthews or Alki beach, the mountains or the happy hour patio tables, it’s a critical time to remind everyone about sun protection and the risk of skin cancer.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, even on cloudy, rainy or drizzly summer days, 80 percent of the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays will still reach your skin. Precaution is critical to your health. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle has clear skies just 28 percent of the time in the winter months, the lowest rate of any city in the U.S. Yet Washington state ranks eighth when it comes to the incidence of melanoma, higher than any of the southern states or Hawaii.
Start Being Sun Smart
- If you are going to be outside for more than a few minutes:
- Always wear a sunscreen with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) of at least 30 on all exposed skin.
- Cover all the skin you can.
- Avoid the sun between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., when it is most intense.
- Seek the shade when possible.
Spot Check
You should examine your skin regularly, at least every three months — every square inch! But how can you tell if a spot is suspicious? What to look for depends on the type of skin cancer. Below are the three most common types:
1. Basal cell carcinoma is by far the most common skin cancer, and, fortunately, it is highly curable if it’s caught early. These cancers usually show as an enlarged pink, fragile bump that may eventually get a scab or ulcer in the center. They tend to grow very slowly, and most have been present for well over a year before a patient comes in to have them checked.
2. Squamous cell carcinoma is the second most common skin cancer, and these spots are also very treatable when discovered early. However, a small percentage (2 to 5 percent) of incidences may see the cancer spread to other parts of the body, with potentially life threatening implications. These tumors are usually hard, dry, scaly bumps that can grow quickly in just a few months.
3. Melanoma is the least common skin cancer; however, it is potentially the most lethal, and early detection is key to survival.
The American Academy of Dermatology and the Skin Cancer Foundation discuss the “ABCDEs” of melanoma:
A stands for “asymmetry.” If a mole is not round or oval and even in shape, it is suspicious.
B stands for “border.” If the edges are blurry, are irregular or have protruding, fingerlike extensions, it is a concern.
C stands for “color.” A normal growth will have the same color evenly distributed, but a worrisome lesion has different shades of brown, black, gray, blue, red or white scattered in it.
D is for “diameter.” After about age 21, it is not common to get new moles, and existing moles generally do not grow in diameter. So if you have a new one that is getting larger or an older mole that starts getting larger in diameter, it needs to be checked.
E is for “evolving.” If you can see monthly changes in a mole such as size, shape or color, get it evaluated.
Because there are many common growths that occur on the skin and it can be difficult to know which lesions may be suspicious, I always recommend seeing your physician. However, here are some of the more commonly acquired benign (noncancerous) growths:
1. Seborrheic keratoses: light to dark brown, “wart-like,” stuck-on growths that gradually increase in size. These are very common and tend to run in families. Some people get many of these as they age, and they can occur anywhere on the skin surface, unrelated to sun exposure.
2. Lentigines: commonly referred to as “liver spots” or “age spots.” These are light brown, smooth, large, freckle-like growths that appear in sun-exposed areas like the face, neck and hands.
3. Actinic keratoses: pink, rough, sandpaper-like, slightly tender patches that occur most often on sun-exposed areas like the balding scalp, temples, ears, hands and forearms. These can eventually become a squamous cell carcinoma if not diagnosed and treated.
Be proactive about your skin health and watch for new or enlarging pigmented (brown) spots, especially if they are irregular in shape or color. Any new pink or red bumps that persist and enlarge over several months are of concern, especially if they are crusty or bleed or scab easily.
Dermatologists recommend that most individuals over 50 years old or those with increased risks for skin cancer have an annual, full-skin exam. Above all, remember the best rule of thumb: “When in doubt, check it out!”